The Exterminator
Encyclopedia
The Exterminator is a 1980 action film written, produced and directed by James Glickenhaus
and starring Robert Ginty
as Vietnam veteran
vigilante
John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator", who takes out the street punks and those involved in organized crime
when the law fails to do justice.
, opening with a dramatic shot of a huge explosion propelling a U.S. soldier through the air. The soldier is revealed to be the film's protagonist, John Eastland (Robert Ginty
) who is quickly assisted by fellow soldier and best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James
). Both men, along with several other U.S. soldiers are quickly captured by the Viet Cong. The film cuts to an open-air VC camp where we next see the soldiers tied to wooden stakes in the ground. The VC commander demands information on when a U.S. strike is going to occur. Eastland refuses to answer and the commander slowly decapitates one of his fellow soldiers. Jefferson manages to get free and quickly slaughters the Vietnamese soldiers.
The film then shifts to New York, where Eastland and Jefferson work in a food warehouse. One day, a group of thugs called the Ghetto Ghouls attack Eastland while he is working after Eastland catches them trying to steal beer. Jefferson comes to his aid. They defeat the thugs, but the gang return to cripple Jefferson by gouging his spine with a meathook, leaving him paralyzed. Eastland, taking the law into his own hands, interrogates one of the members with a flame thrower and then attacks their clubhouse, shooting one gang member and leaving two others tied up in the basement, which is full of hungry rats.
Eastland's vigilante justice does not end there. The warehouse where he works has been cowed into paying protection money to organized crime. Unrelenting, even though Congress has stated it will hold hearings to investigate the price of meat in New York, the mob has squeezed money out of the paychecks of workers such as Jefferson. Eastland manages to kidnap one of the mobsters, steal money from the mobster's home (though he narrowly survives an attack by a doberman guard dog) and feeds the mobster to a meat grinder because he neglected to mention his watchdog. Eastland gives the money to the Jeffersons.
A police officer named Dalton begins investigating these attacks, as Eastland announces to the press his nom de guerre as the Exterminator. He kills the ring leader of a child prostitution ring, as well as a state senator from New Jersey whom he provides boys for him to abuse
. Ironically, Eastland himself steals a motorcycle and helmet from another man, though only to pursue a group of Ghetto Ghoul muggers
who had just attacked and robbed an elderly woman.
Meanwhile, the CIA has heard of the Exterminator and reaches odd conclusions. Based on the current administration's promise to cut down crime rates, they believe that the Exterminator is either an opposition party's stunt or a foreign power's ruse to humiliate the current administration by exposing their inability to handle the crime problem. They monitor Dalton's investigation of the Exterminator. Dalton, working from a bootprint found at the mobster's home, discovers the Exterminator wears a hunting boot manufactured by a mail order firm in Maine
. Asking them for a list of clients in New York, and following the hunch that the Exterminator may be a veteran (since when he killed the Ghetto Ghouls he was seen with an M-16
), Dalton has narrowed the suspects accordingly.
In the dénouement, Eastland visits Jefferson in the hospital. Jefferson has asked to see him. Never being able to walk again, Jefferson wishes that Eastland would kill him. Eastland does, but coincidentally, Dalton is visiting the hospital at the time. When he learns about Jefferson's death, Dalton concludes (apparently having investigated Jefferson earlier as a possible suspect for the Exterminator and having learned about the attack on him) that one of Jefferson's friends was the Exterminator, and learns that Eastland was one of them.
Dalton stakes out Eastland's apartment. Eastland, seeing the police arriving at his home from afar, calls his apartment and arranges for a private meeting with Dalton, where he hopes to explain his reasons for his actions. However, the CIA, bugging his phone, hear his call with Dalton, and ambush them at the rendezvous. Eastland escapes alive, but in most foreign territories, according to the liner notes on Anchor Bay Entertainment
's video and DVD reissue of the film in a director's cut
, the ending was where Eastland died rather than escaping alive. Though the poster features the Exterminator using a flamethrower
, it only briefly appears in the film, but does appear in the sequel Exterminator 2
.
The Astrologer, in 1977. His experiences taking the film for showings in the Southern part of the United States led him to interview cinema owners and observe their audiences which led him to make a more commercial film. Glickenhaus also took The Astrologer to Cannes
where he felt that the lengthy dialogue of the film worked against it. He vowed to make his next film with as little dialogue as possible as his observance of the audiences made him feel that they didn't enjoy reading subtitles or hearing dubbing of dialogue where the original nuances would not translate.
Glickenhaus's original lead for the role was to have been Joseph Bottoms
as he felt that instead of a well known and high priced action star an everyman
would appeal to audiences. At the last moment Bottoms success in The Black Hole
led his agent to demand more money. Glickenhaus refused him and found Robert Ginty
who had had seen in The Paper Chase
and Coming Home. Then a stuntman, Steve James
had originally tested for the role of a bartender but Glickenhaus was so impressed with his reading he enlarged the role of the lead character's friend.
The Vietnam sequence was filmed after most of the film was completed. It was filmed in Indian Dunes, California where Twilight Zone: The Movie
was made; using the special effects by Stan Winston
. The sequence was done in five days using 15% of the budget.l
The MPAA demanded and received 47 seconds of cuts to the violence which remained in the version shown in Japan.
Glickenhaus wished to make other types of films so was not involved with the sequel.
Renowned jazz saxist Stan Getz
briefly appears performing at an outdoor concert.
released The Exterminator on a DVD
/Blu-ray Disc
combo pack. Extra features include the film's theatrical trailer, some TV spots, and a commentary with writer/director James Glickenhaus.
James Glickenhaus
James Glickenhaus is an American investment professional at Glickenhaus & Co., the finance firm started by his father, Seth Glickenhaus. He was formerly a movie director before entering the finance world....
and starring Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty was an American movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.-Early life:...
as Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War.The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them, whether or...
vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator", who takes out the street punks and those involved in organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
when the law fails to do justice.
Plot
The film begins in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, opening with a dramatic shot of a huge explosion propelling a U.S. soldier through the air. The soldier is revealed to be the film's protagonist, John Eastland (Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty was an American movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.-Early life:...
) who is quickly assisted by fellow soldier and best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James
Steve James (actor)
Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death...
). Both men, along with several other U.S. soldiers are quickly captured by the Viet Cong. The film cuts to an open-air VC camp where we next see the soldiers tied to wooden stakes in the ground. The VC commander demands information on when a U.S. strike is going to occur. Eastland refuses to answer and the commander slowly decapitates one of his fellow soldiers. Jefferson manages to get free and quickly slaughters the Vietnamese soldiers.
The film then shifts to New York, where Eastland and Jefferson work in a food warehouse. One day, a group of thugs called the Ghetto Ghouls attack Eastland while he is working after Eastland catches them trying to steal beer. Jefferson comes to his aid. They defeat the thugs, but the gang return to cripple Jefferson by gouging his spine with a meathook, leaving him paralyzed. Eastland, taking the law into his own hands, interrogates one of the members with a flame thrower and then attacks their clubhouse, shooting one gang member and leaving two others tied up in the basement, which is full of hungry rats.
Eastland's vigilante justice does not end there. The warehouse where he works has been cowed into paying protection money to organized crime. Unrelenting, even though Congress has stated it will hold hearings to investigate the price of meat in New York, the mob has squeezed money out of the paychecks of workers such as Jefferson. Eastland manages to kidnap one of the mobsters, steal money from the mobster's home (though he narrowly survives an attack by a doberman guard dog) and feeds the mobster to a meat grinder because he neglected to mention his watchdog. Eastland gives the money to the Jeffersons.
A police officer named Dalton begins investigating these attacks, as Eastland announces to the press his nom de guerre as the Exterminator. He kills the ring leader of a child prostitution ring, as well as a state senator from New Jersey whom he provides boys for him to abuse
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
. Ironically, Eastland himself steals a motorcycle and helmet from another man, though only to pursue a group of Ghetto Ghoul muggers
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
who had just attacked and robbed an elderly woman.
Meanwhile, the CIA has heard of the Exterminator and reaches odd conclusions. Based on the current administration's promise to cut down crime rates, they believe that the Exterminator is either an opposition party's stunt or a foreign power's ruse to humiliate the current administration by exposing their inability to handle the crime problem. They monitor Dalton's investigation of the Exterminator. Dalton, working from a bootprint found at the mobster's home, discovers the Exterminator wears a hunting boot manufactured by a mail order firm in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. Asking them for a list of clients in New York, and following the hunch that the Exterminator may be a veteran (since when he killed the Ghetto Ghouls he was seen with an M-16
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
), Dalton has narrowed the suspects accordingly.
In the dénouement, Eastland visits Jefferson in the hospital. Jefferson has asked to see him. Never being able to walk again, Jefferson wishes that Eastland would kill him. Eastland does, but coincidentally, Dalton is visiting the hospital at the time. When he learns about Jefferson's death, Dalton concludes (apparently having investigated Jefferson earlier as a possible suspect for the Exterminator and having learned about the attack on him) that one of Jefferson's friends was the Exterminator, and learns that Eastland was one of them.
Dalton stakes out Eastland's apartment. Eastland, seeing the police arriving at his home from afar, calls his apartment and arranges for a private meeting with Dalton, where he hopes to explain his reasons for his actions. However, the CIA, bugging his phone, hear his call with Dalton, and ambush them at the rendezvous. Eastland escapes alive, but in most foreign territories, according to the liner notes on Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
's video and DVD reissue of the film in a director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
, the ending was where Eastland died rather than escaping alive. Though the poster features the Exterminator using a flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
, it only briefly appears in the film, but does appear in the sequel Exterminator 2
Exterminator 2
Exterminator 2 is a 1984 action film written and directed by Mark Buntzman, starring Robert Ginty and Mario Van Peebles, with cameos by Arye Gross in his debut role, and John Turturro in his second role...
.
Cast
- Robert GintyRobert GintyRobert Ginty was an American movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.-Early life:...
as John Eastland - Samantha EggarSamantha EggarSamantha Eggar is an English film, television and voice actress.-Early life:She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, London to an Anglo-Irish father and a mother of Dutch and Portuguese descent...
as Dr. Megan Stewart - Christopher GeorgeChristopher GeorgeChristopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
as Detective James Dalton - Steve JamesSteve James (actor)Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death...
as Michael Jefferson - Tony DiBenedetto as Chicken Pimp
- Dick Boccelli as Gino Pontivini
- Patrick FarrellyPatrick FarrellyPatrick Farrelly was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Patrick Farrelly was born in Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1798. He studied law, was admitted to the bar July 11, 1803, and commenced practice in Meadville, Pennsylvania...
as CIA Agent Shaw - Michele Harrell as Maria Jefferson
- David Lipman as The State Senator from New Jersey
- Cindy Wilks as Candy
- Dennis BoutsikarisDennis BoutsikarisDennis Boutsikaris is an American two-time Obie-Award winning character actor. He is a Broadway Actor and frequent television guest star and leading man in made-for-TV movies...
as Frankie
Production
James Glickenhaus was a maker of industrial, educational and promotional films in his native New York City. He had previously made one other feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
The Astrologer, in 1977. His experiences taking the film for showings in the Southern part of the United States led him to interview cinema owners and observe their audiences which led him to make a more commercial film. Glickenhaus also took The Astrologer to Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
where he felt that the lengthy dialogue of the film worked against it. He vowed to make his next film with as little dialogue as possible as his observance of the audiences made him feel that they didn't enjoy reading subtitles or hearing dubbing of dialogue where the original nuances would not translate.
Glickenhaus's original lead for the role was to have been Joseph Bottoms
Joseph Bottoms
Joseph Bottoms is an American actor who won the 1975 Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actor for his role in The Dove...
as he felt that instead of a well known and high priced action star an everyman
Everyman
In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
would appeal to audiences. At the last moment Bottoms success in The Black Hole
The Black Hole
The Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy...
led his agent to demand more money. Glickenhaus refused him and found Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty
Robert Ginty was an American movie actor, producer, scenarist, and director of movies and TV series episodes.-Early life:...
who had had seen in The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase (TV series)
The Paper Chase is a television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr., as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart and his classmates at Harvard Law School.-Production:...
and Coming Home. Then a stuntman, Steve James
Steve James (actor)
Steve James was an American actor, stuntman and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the American Ninja series, The Delta Force , The Exterminator , and Enter the Game of Death...
had originally tested for the role of a bartender but Glickenhaus was so impressed with his reading he enlarged the role of the lead character's friend.
The Vietnam sequence was filmed after most of the film was completed. It was filmed in Indian Dunes, California where Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 science fiction horror film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1959 and '60s TV series created by Rod Serling. Those starring in the film are: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers,...
was made; using the special effects by Stan Winston
Stan Winston
Stanley Winston was an American visual effects supervisor, makeup artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens, the Predator series, Iron Man, Edward Scissorhands, and Avatar...
. The sequence was done in five days using 15% of the budget.l
The MPAA demanded and received 47 seconds of cuts to the violence which remained in the version shown in Japan.
Glickenhaus wished to make other types of films so was not involved with the sequel.
Renowned jazz saxist Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
briefly appears performing at an outdoor concert.
Home video releases
On 13th September 2011, Synapse FilmsSynapse Films
Synapse Films is a DVD/Blu-ray label owned and operated by Don May, Jr. and his business partners Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler. The company specializes in cult horror, science fiction, and exploitation films....
released The Exterminator on a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
/Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
combo pack. Extra features include the film's theatrical trailer, some TV spots, and a commentary with writer/director James Glickenhaus.